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(No Model.)

M. R. CONLEY.

PROCESS 0F ,MAKING IRON 0R *STEEL No. 534,857. Patiepted Feb. 26, 1895.

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MICHAEL R. CONLEY,l OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO TWILLIAM BELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 534,857, dated February 26, 1895. Application led April 17, 1894. Serial No. 507,868. (No specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MICHAEL R. CONLEY, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented an Improved Process 0f Making Iron or Steel, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of an improved process of making iron or steel from fine, pulverized ore and scrap.

To carry my method into eect I prefer to use a construction of furnace which is an improvement upon that for which I obtained Letters Patent No. 477,623, dated June 21, 1892.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my improved furnace, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 1 2, Fig. 1.

It will facilitate the explanation and understanding of my process, if I first describe the construction of furnace employed for carrying it into effect.

As in my former furnace I have a central open hearth combined with reverberatory furnaces and retorts, so located in flues at opposite sides of the open hearth as that the said retorts may be heated by the waste heat or gases passing from the open hearth, and this without interfering with the reversing principle of the reverberatory open hearth furnace, and without using any other regenerators than those needed for the melting hearth.

The furnace may be constructed in general after the manner of the Siemens reverberatory steel melting furnace with its gas and air regenerators B B and hearth C. The end walls D D of this open-hearth furnace are made thicker or more extended than usual, and in the lues in these walls at each end I provide one or more reducing retortsE E. As in my former patent, each retort has at its outer end a muffle door, while its inner end, which is preferably closed with a suitable gate K, opens directly onto the melting hearth O. There is also a gas outlet F which may, however, be used for afeed opening. Instead of arranging these retorts horizontally, as in my aforesaid patent, I now arrange them at an angle, as shown, with their inner or discharge ends lower than their outer ends which are adapted to be closed by the muftle doors.

l/Vith a furnace thus constructed, I carry out my improved process of treating fine and pulverized ore for the production of in-V gots or pig` metal, in the following manner: The fine and pulverized ore whichis to be treated has added to it a suitable amount of carbon, preferably more than what would be theoretically required to produce a sponge, and there may also be added a small quantity of `oxide of manganese and a flux such as lime and any other materials which may be required to produce any special class of metal. I take scrap in afinely divided state, such asborings, turnings, dre., and mix a suitable quantity of that with the ore, as it will facilitate reduction, and improve the product. I then by preference thoroughly mix with the ore, carbon, &c., sufficient liquid, such as water, tar or pitch, to form a stiff plastic mass or mortar, whereby the carbon and manganese and fine scrap if used, will be held in close contact with the ore, and moreover light particles of the ore which would escape if the materials were handled in a dry state will be saved. When the mass has been thoroughly mixed,itcan be charged into the retorts at one end of the furnace, the gates K being preferably closed for the time being. When the retorts have been charged, the doors at their outer ends are of course closed. Meantime a bath of scrap or other suitable material which may have been previonsly heated to near the melting point in one of the retorts, should be thrown onto the hearth C, so that when the ame from the generator is thrown onto the hearth, this material will melt into a suitable bath and the heat from gases `passing over the hearth will heat the retorts containing the mixture of pulverized ore and other materials before referred to. When the contents of these retorts on the outgoing side of the furnace have been partially reduced, the gate K may, if desired, be opened to allow the gas to play di` rectly onto the contents which will be quickly brought to a molten state, and owing to the inclined position of the retorts, the molten metal will flow down onto the melting hearth where the action is continued and the molten ICO metal subjected to the action of the gases for a suitable length of time to complete the melting or reduction. It is then tapped off and cast into ingots, or into pig metal, according to the character of the metal. Meantime the retorts on the opposite side of the hearth have been charged with the pulverized ore and materials combined therewith, so that when the valves in the regenerators are reversed, the contents of those retorts Will in turn be melted and tiow down onto the hearth.

I claim as my invention- The mode herein described of treating pulverized ore for the manufacture of iron or steel, consisting in mixing the ore With nely divided scrap and carbon and subjecting the mixture to heat in a retort and then transferring it to an open hearth, Where it is subjected to a further reducingaction, all substantially as described.

In testimony -Whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

MICHAEL R. CONLEY.

Witnesses:

EDITH J. GRISWOLD, HUBERT HoWsON. 

